Ahmad Rashid is widely considered to be the best journalist on Afghan and related Pakistani issues. And he has a scoop over the secret U.S. negotiations with the Taliban. I respect him though I don’t necessarily agree with him. And Rashid’s points must be integrated into the U.S. and Western debate over Afghanistan.

I don’t know how this will go over just yet, but the word “smoothly” does not come to mind.Michael Totten
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Was Nasrallah's admission of spy infiltration into Hezbollah prep for a possible exit from blame in Hariri killing? Just a thought.Michael Young, Daily Star (Lebanon)

Here, translated from the Dutch, is another indication that Dutch newspapers are taking the lead in revealing the Flotilla for what it is.

I received the following via email. If you follow the link to the online newspaper and use Google Translate, you'll see that the translation is accurate.

Hasna El Maroudi, 26, can be described as a “Dutch pro-Palestinian activist/journalist of Moroccan descent.” She had planned to join other activists aboard a Dutch ship to Gaza, until she learned that she would be going on a secret Hamas-organized mission and canceled her participation. On Wednesday she published a rare inside account of what she saw in Greece as the activists were preparing to set sail. This English translation of her account is meant to meant to help her discoveries traverse the language barrier.

The obligation of the Islamic Nation to open the crossings - all crossings - in and out of Palestine permanently, in order to allow access to all the needs of the Palestinians - money, clothing, food, medicine, weapons and other essentials, so that they are able to live and perform the jihad in the way of Allah Almighty. [emphasis added]Istanbul Declaration of February 13, 2009, Signed by Muhammad Sawalha, coordinator of the current Flotilla

The second flotilla is coordinated by Muhammad Sawalha, a senior UK-based Muslim Brotherhood figure connected to Hamas. Many of the participating organizations can be directly linked with the Union of Good (UoG), a coalition of European charities affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which in 2008 was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Treasury for transferring funds to Hamas. The UoG was initiated by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood on a global scale, shortly after the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the U.S. would not intervene militarily in Syria as it is doing in Libya, and drew a distinction between Libya's Muammar Qaddafi and Syria's Bashar Assad. The latter, she explained, is seen by congressmen from both parties as “a reformer.”

Last week, I reposted an email Arlene Kushner sent out as part of her "From Israel" series on the issue of retaining Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria--the West Bank. Kushner describes a conference on the issue and a summary of the positions of 4 speakers there: Yoram Ettinger, Danny Dayan, Dr. Mordecai Kedar and Caroline Glick.

Obama is hastening the end 60 years of American pre-eminence in the Middle East

The debate over America's global decline rages on. However, in one context there is less disagreement. As we know it, the American-dominated order, or what we can call Pax Americana, in the Middle East seems to be on its last legs, even if the military power of the United States will remain unrivalled for some time to come.

Three events last week highlighted Washington's economic challenges, which are also psychological.

Lawfully enforcing the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip allows the Israeli Navy to halt rocket and missile attacks into Israel by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.

It's a constant battle, and one we must continue to fight with vigor. Here, a couple of examples:

Six Democrats in the House of Representatives have written a letter to Secretary of State Clinton urging her to "do everything in [her] power" to "ensure the safety of all American citizens on board 'The Audacity of Hope (a ship that will participate in the Flotilla, carrying 36 Americans and flying the US flag).'"

Freedom Flotilla II, as with the original failed endeavour, is being sponsored by a coalition of shady figures who amount to nothing more than the Western arm of the Friends of Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. The umbrella group heading the whole thing is again IHH, a charity with links to international terrorism that masquerades as a humanitarian organisation. IHH boasts a history of involvement in Islamic extremism, having been connected with a failed plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

Here’s the headline: “U.S. to resume formal Muslim Brotherhood contacts.” But that’s not true. In fact, as the Reuters article itself admits there have never been “formal” contacts before but only informal ones. Let’s examine the language, which stems from a “senior U.S. official” to see what the Obama Administration thinks about the Muslim Brotherhood.

“A step that reflects the Islamist group’s growing political weight but that is almost certain to upset Israel and its U.S. backers.”

There are two types of strategic perspectives in Israel today. They aren’t contradictory but they have different priorities. These can be called the “northern” and the “southern” views.

The “northern” approach is the more traditional one, focusing on the situation in that direction. The key longer-term concern is over Iran and its drive for nuclear weapons. More closely, there are both concerns and hopes regarding Lebanon and Syria.

Regarding Iran, the new feature is the assumption that Israel will not attack Iran to prevent it from getting nuclear weapons. This means that Israel will be constructing a multi-level defensive system that includes long-range attack planes, a capability of subverting Iran’s nuclear force through covert operations, possibly submarine platforms, and several types of anti-missile missiles and defenses.

On Tuesday, the United Nations again made itself an international laughing stock – except perhaps to the American taxpayers who continue to foot 22 percent of the bill – by appointing North Korea chair of the U.N. Conference on Disarmament. That would be the same North Korea that, according to an article this week by Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has “twice tested nuclear weapons…is developing missiles to carry them…has built facilities capable of producing highly enriched uranium for more nuclear weapons” and has defied a U.N. arms embargo by exporting weapons and sensitive technologies to rogue regimes.

Alas, Senator Kerry is also one of the lead champion of the United Nations in the Senate.

Our boat, The Audacity of Hope, will be carrying letters to the people of Gaza. Letters expressing solidarity and love. That is all its cargo will consist of. If the Israeli military attacks us, it will be as if they attacked the mailman.Alice Walker, Why I'm joining the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza

Alice Walker is a writer, whose defense of joining the flotilla is naturally expressed more in a literary turn of phrase than argument based on facts--appealing to emotion rather than reason.

Free Gaza is but one tactic of a larger strategy, to transform this conflict from one between Israel and the Palestinians, or Israel and the Arab world...to one between the rest of the world and Israel...Adam Shapiro, quoted by Melanie Phillips, The Flotilla and The Third Intifada

The above quote, of Adam Shapiro--a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement as well as a board member of the Free Gaza Movement which is behind the "freedom" flotilla, comes from a meeting last November at Rutgers university in New Jersey to raise money to fund an American flotilla boat. It is from a speech Shapiro gave, a video of which Melanie Phillips obtained.

Obama’s speech last month seems to have crystallized the doubts many pro-Israel Democrats had about Obama in 2008 in a way that could, on the margins, cost the president votes and money in 2012 and will not be easy to repair.

Officially, the U.S. does not pay other governments for rights to military bases. The logic is straightforward: funneling money to the treasuries of foreign dictators cannot form the foundation of genuine strategic alliances. Yet, to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while staring down the mullahs in Iran, over the last decade the Pentagon has come to rely in an unprecedented way on a web of bases across the Middle East. And a NEWSWEEK investigation of Pentagon contracting practices in Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Bahrain has uncovered more than $14 billion paid mostly in sole-source contracts to companies controlled by ruling families across the Persian Gulf. The revelation raises a fundamental question: are U.S. taxpayer dollars enriching the ruling potentates of friendly regimes just as the youthful protesters and the Arab Spring have brought a new push for democracy across the region?

Who would ever think that the Gulf states were that hard up for money?

This is the second time that Netanyahu is doing this.
Here is his personal invitation on YouTube:

More information:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invites web users from around the world to send him video questions via YouTube. He is particularly interested in broadening the direct dialogue with people from the Arab world and would welcome questions from the countries undergoing what has been termed "the Arab Spring." Questions may be on any topic, including peace talks, democracy in the Arab world, and even the Gaza flotilla.

To date, the Prime Minister's office has received dozens of questions from Arab web users. Most respondents expressed support for peace with Israel and are interested in understanding its positions regarding "the Arab Spring" and the future of negotiations with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will answer questions from video clips on his YouTube site in the coming weeks. Following is a link to the site, including the Prime Minister's invitation to send questions, with Arabic subtitles:

Israel, the United States and the European Union regard Hamas as a terrorist group. Flotilla activists, however, say their intentions are only to assist civilians in Gaza and not to express support for any particular Palestinian political group.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A year ago, Israel took military action against the "Gaza flotilla" in international waters, which resulted in the deaths of nine civilians, including one American citizen. In addition, ten Israeli commandos and more than 20 passengers were injured in this tragic incident. In order to avoid another confrontation this year, we urge all parties to practice maximum restraint and avoid violence.From a letter from 6 Congressmen to Secretary of State Clinton (hat tip: Z Street)

No one expects Congress to march in lockstep in favor of everything Israel does, but one would hope that when they disagree, what they say makes sense.

The departure of a pro-Palestinian flotilla of international ships with plans to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza has been delayed, in large part due to the efforts of an Israeli advocacy group, both sides said Tuesday.

One element of that attempt centers around UK and US based global satellite company Inmarsat, whose network for communicating with ports, naval authorities and other vessels is essential--and without which the Flotilla would be unable to sail.

Jordan was created in the part of the British Mandate of Palestine east of the Jordan River, the majority of the Mandate. It was carved out of the Mandate and given to the Hashemite tribe of Arabia as payment for the Hashemites cooperation with the British in World War I. In todays Jordan, the Hashemites are a minority, but control the state's power - the Monarchy. As a product of the British Mandate of Palestine, the majority non-Hashemite population identify themselves as 'Palestinians', or 'Southern Syrians' depending on the political climate.

- Society for Rational Peace -

If Jordan's majority population is Palestinian, why are we trying to give them a second homeland?

Concerning Palestine East Of The River Jordan

Each day brings me closer to the realization that Palestine, as it wants to exist within the boundary of Israel, and impose this view on the world community, is a farce... an imaginative place with imaginative people. History proves over and over again that JORDAN IS INDEED PALESTINE.

Here are several quotes from "officials" in the so-called Palestinian community.

A second flotilla of ships is going to the Gaza Strip. Or should I say, trying to go there since it will be stopped if necessary by a legal Israeli blockade. In the first flotilla, the Islamist holy warriors organized by the Turkish government-backed IHH group all gathered on one ship. The other boats, the ships of (political) tools cooperated, no one was injured, and they were towed into port. The ship of jihadists attacked Israeli soldiers, kidnapped and beat up a couple of them, and had the “victory” of getting nine martyrs out of it.

The Israelis and the Palestinians have been negotiating for 30 years, but not for the last 2 year, for the last 2 1/2 years of the Obama administration so that is in a way a measure of how ineffectiveness the policy has been.Elliot Abrams

Ed Morrissey, blogger at Hot Air and talk show host, interviews Elliot Abrams, the former adviser to both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush:

Sticking our heads in the sand and ignoring illegal Palestinian building is going to get us in big trouble.Israeli MK Uri Ariel

Notice that Ariel did not say that Israel's current destruction of illegal Palestinian building will cause Israel problems--he said that Israel's current ignoring illegal Palestinian building will cause problems.

Iran unveiled underground silos on Monday that would make its missiles less vulnerable to attack, marking the country’s latest show of force in the long standoff with the West over its nuclear program.

Naguib Sawiris is an Egyptian business tycoon. He’s also the founder of the new, liberal Free Egyptians Party. He also tweets and has an Internet site. He’s also in big trouble. For something he posted. Pictures of Muhammad founder of Islam? Anthony Weiner type photos? No. Cartoons of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Read on.

Last year, anti-Israel extremists and Turkish jihadists organized a flotilla to violate Israel’s naval blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza. The Israeli Navy redirected five of the boats to the Israeli port of Ashdod without incident. However, those on the sixth boat refused to cooperate. When Israeli officers boarded the ship, the Turkish jihadists brutally attacked them with knives, metal bars, and guns. Nine jihadists were killed.

Monday, June 27, 2011

The Australian contingent has also said they are "committed to peace and non-violence", but how do they square that with Hamas's record of violence, including the firing of some 13,000 rockets and mortars into Israel since 2001?The Australian, June 24, 2011

Jerry: Well here’s your chance to try the opposite. Instead of tuna salad and being intimidated by women, chicken salad and going right up to them.
George : Yeah, I should do the opposite, I should.Jerry : If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.

By Barry Rubin

Just your normal Middle East policy day in which every instinct the Obama administration has is wrong. Allied forces in Libya accidentally drop bombs on civilians. I thought the NATO forces were in Libya to protect civilians. Libya didn’t attack the United States. When Israel is attacked, responds directly, and accidentally kills civilians it is called a “war crime”; when the United States and its allies do it thousands of miles away in an unnecessary and ill-defined mission that’s an excusable accident. What are Western forces doing in Libya? And if they are really there to overthrow dictator Muammar Qadhafi why is he still in power?

In one breath she [Alice Walker] talks about the “cruel and inhuman” treatment meted out to Palestinians, who are “frazzled and suffering everyday”. And in the next she talks about chickens that are “raised under horrible, torturous conditions”, and the fact that people who tuck into chicken dinners don’t realise that they are eating “something precious, beautiful, rare”.Brendan O'Neill

While Israel protests that Flotilla2 does not understand the international law that is the basis of the blockade of Gaza, a case can be made that these activists don't understand the Palestinians either.

I really have sympathy for Iran and their The International Conference on Global Fight against Terrorism. After all, given the ridiculous premises they were forced to work with as it bent over backwards to condoned the murder of civilians, is it any wonder their conclusions are so preposterous?

o The participants underlined, as also reiterated by Iran's Supreme Leader, the need for providing a consensual definition for terrorism without prejudicing or affecting, in any manner, the recognized rules and principles of international humanitarian law. It was emphasized that legitimate struggles of peoples under colonial rule or foreign occupation for their inalienable right of self-determination should not be labeled as terrorism;

The ships are supposed to rendevous in the Mediterranean and then sail to Gaza but some of the likely candidates in the region are dropping out. Cyprus has announced it will not let the ships in, Greece will let them in but is stalling them with red tape at Israel's request, activists complain. Greece has its own issues this week and will have limited energy to spend on this, one way or the other.

Sometimes when one of the better reporters around tries to be fair the result shows up the low quality of Middle East coverage generally. In an article on the Gaza Strip, Israeli policy, and the flotilla of anti-Israel, pro-Hamas activists, the New York Times informs us:

“Israel’s relationship with the foreign news media has grown strained in recent years; the country increasingly believes that foreign portrayals of its conflict with the Palestinians are harsh and one-sided.”

Hamas operatives who are imprisoned in Israel have announced that they will go on a 24-hour hunger strike starting Monday, in protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's intention to revoke some of their privileges.

The late Southern Sudanese leader John Garang, in 1999, posed the following dual-part existential question for our era:

Is the call for jihad against a particular people a religious right of those calling for it, or is it a human rights violation against the people upon whom jihad is declared and waged?

As I hope to make plain, the answer to both parts of John Garang’s query is “Yes!”

Hamas cleric Muhsen Abu ‘Ita was interviewed July 13, 2008, on Al-Aqsa TV. After reminding listeners that the Koran’s opening prayer itself, the Fatiha, which pious Muslims repeat 17 times daily, declares that the Jews are “those who incur Allah’s wrath,” specifically in the 7th verse of the Fatiha, re-affirming the verse’s standard exegesis, or interpretation, for over 13 centuries, he declared:

The annihilation of the Jews here in Palestine is one of the most splendid blessings forPalestine. This will be followed by a greater blessing, Allah be praised, with the establishment of a Caliphate that will rule the land and will be pleasing to men and God.

Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our prophet Muhammad. Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam, and has planted the brothers of apes and pigs [i.e., Jews, Koran 2:65, 5:60, and 7:166, and other foundational Muslim texts] in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam — this capital of theirs [Rome] will be an advanced post for the Islamic conquests, which will spread through Europe in its entirety, and then will turn to the two Americas, and evenEastern Europe. I believe that our children or our grandchildren will inherit our Jihad …

On Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly elected Iran one of its vice presidents and Qatar as president, each for a year-long term starting in September. At one and the same time the Obama State Department has been blanketing the airwaves with speeches on this administration’s love affair with the UN under the title “principled engagement.” But with Wednesday’s U.N. elections, what kind of principles might the Obama administration be talking about?

In theory, the mission of the General Assembly includes making “recommendations for the purpose of…assisting in the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” But that’s only in theory.

That's how long it has been, to the day, since Gilad Schalit was first captured by Hamas.

A corporal in the Armor Corps at the time he was taken, he has since been promoted to staff sergeant. He was abducted by terrorists who had entered Israel via an underground tunnel, near the Kerem Shalom crossing where he was patrolling. To this day, his exact whereabouts have been kept secret.

Hamas has not permitted even a single visit to Gilad by the International Red Cross -- which just last Thursday made a (futile) request for such a visit, or at least proof that he is still alive. (There has been no such proof for about two years.)

12 "human rights" groups get together on the 5th anniversary of the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit--but HRW and friends are not demanding Shalit's release. Yes, Shalit should be able to contact famiy. Yes, he should have access to the Red Cross. But there is no mention of the thousands of rockets fired by the terrorist group Hamas which is the context of the kidnapping.

Yet here these same champions of international law have lost their voices, and their outrage, when it comes to making what should be the easiest of judgments: That it is against international law to raid a sovereign state for the purpose of abducting its citizens, that Shalit’s imprisonment is barbaric and utterly without legitimacy, and that Hamas must release him immediately.

In 2003, I and the publication I edit, the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, became the world’s biggest story for two or three days. Last week I became a “story” without knowing it until later.

First, the 2003 experience. An Iraqi-American author submitted a good article that explained how Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime’s intellience agencies worked. As I edited the article I said to myself–this is absolutely true–that this was one of the most uncontroversial articles I’d ever publish because it was so bland, though useful as a database inventory of Iraqi institutions

My son took a computer design course in a summer camp that rented space in an Anglican private high school in the wealthiest Washington suburb. On the last day, students demonstrated the games they’d designed. I went for the presentation in the classroom, that was usually used by the school for teaching history, I was shocked but not surprised.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Here is a lecture by Dr. Barry Rubin, given in Los Angeles on March 10, 2011

The protests cascading across the Middle East are shaking much more than the Arab autocracies that have dominated the region for decades. Things that we thought were stable in the Middle East have turned out to be fragile, while movements that were supposed to be weak have turned into powerful tsunamis of change. Long-held beliefs are falling by the wayside.

Despite these upheavals, the same old self-styled experts are trotting out the same tired and debunked conventional wisdom about the region.

They have had to change the players around, but the apologies and fantasies are all the same. Instead of secular Arab nationalists like Yasser Arafat moderating before signing Oslo, now it's that fanatical Muslim leaders like Yusuf al-Qaradawi can be dealt with. Instead of Hamas professionalizing after seizing Gaza, now it's that Hezbollah will integrate into Lebanon. The contexts are different but the excuses remain the same.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Victor David Hansen discussed Obama's Real Legacy, in particular contrasting Obama the Senator with what he says now:

Barack Obama’s cries from the heart as a senator about the possibility of a Bush intervention in Iran being a de facto violation of the War Powers Act have been widely circulated — juxtaposed to his sophistic gymnastics about bombs over Libya not really being much more than “kinetic action” and thus exempt from the Act. Then we have another doublet with Hillary Clinton, who said this month:

After digging to a depth of 100 metres last year, Russian scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years, and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.

So, not to be outdone,in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200 metres and headlines in the US papers read: "US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibers, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians."

In order to protect Israeli civilians from attacks by the terrorist organization Hamas, the IDF lawfully enforces a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. Given previous attempts by the terrorist organization in smuggling weapons via land and sea and the inherent difficulties in conducting inspections at sea, it is critical that Israeli forces inspect all goods and material marked for Gaza prior to their transfer into the Strip.

The Palestinians will seek membership as an independent state at the U.N. in September even if peace negotiations with Israel are underway, the Palestinian U.N. envoy said Thursday.
Riyad Mansour said the Palestinians are working on three separate tracks — restarting negotiations, completing the institutions for an independent state and gaining additional recognition for a Palestinian state.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Delta Air Lines’ plan to add Saudi Arabian Airlines to its SkyTeam Alliance of partnering companies would require the American carrier to ban Jews and holders of Israeli passports from boarding flights from New York or Washington bound for Jeddah, prompting outraged accusations of illegal religious discrimination.

Interview with Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg--international and maritime law expert. He was an adviser to Israel's Turkel Commission on last years flotilla, which determine how and why violence erupted.

ZEIT ONLINE: The deployment of Israeli forces in May of last year against a humanitarian convoy headed for Gaza unleashed cries of protest worldwide. Now a second and far larger international convoy is on its way to Gaza – a convoy that aims to break Israeli’s sea blockade of Gaza. Is this blockade even allowable from a legal standpoint?

Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg: Well that depends on how you characterize the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. When jurists come together, they often disagree on this matter. But there’s definitely a consensus on one thing – namely that what you have here is an armed conflict. Which means that the laws governing such conflicts apply; and under these laws, sea blockades are allowed.

First of all, Abrams clarifies the issue of the "Uniting for Peace" resolution in the UN, designed to allow for getting around a deadlock in the Security Council. This was originally described as a way for the Palestinians get around the expected US veto in the Security Council:

This article discusses why the United States was in Afghanistan, why it failed to achieve its goals, why the Obama administration set the wrong goals, what Obama didn't tell the American people, what he failed to learn, what he should have done, and wider lessons showing the incompetent and counterproductive policies of this administration.

I am in favor of a U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, but I was fascinated–in a negative way–with how President Barack Obama handled the issue. He didn’t deal with any of the real issues or the consequences. It was a speech by someone who doesn’t understand what’s been going on in Afghanistan or the world generally, a man with no real background in international affairs or military matters.

Presidential love is not a substitute for defensible borders, any more than a “guaranty” or a “binding” UN resolution would be. And it is essential to recognize that defensible borders for Israel are as much an American interest as an Israeli one: indefensible borders will simply produce another Middle East war, no matter what the peace agreement says, or who signs it, or how many Nobel Prizes result from it.Rick Richman

Rick Richman writes that when in Washington Netanyahu was following a long tradition in opposing a 1967 border:

From the day it began, the council has proved to be even worse than its predecessor. Sitting in judgment on human rights violations worldwide are such luminaries as China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia. Member Libya had no difficulty being elected, and its suspension didn’t occur until March of this year, when the numbers of dead finally proved too embarrassing. But throwing women in jail for driving, outlawing freedom of religion, rendering homosexuality a capital offense and periodically cutting off heads haven’t made a dent in Saudi membership.

“Palestinian workers in the West Bank have so far failed to benefit from the recent surge in economic growth, with new research showing that unemployment is high and rising while wages continue to fall.”

1) Blockade blackoutInan articleabout a Saudi pledge to contribute $70 million for housing in Gaza there's this paragraph:

Israel, which controls the cargo crossings into Gaza, has largely banned the entry of construction materials into the coastal strip since Hamas militants seized control in 2007. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Like news items which bemoan the difficulty that checkpoints impose upon the Palestinians, this provides no context for the blockade.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

In the absence of U.S. leadership, others want to direct the Middle East. The battle is becoming a competition of radicals for run the region. That’s what happened in the 1950s and 1960s and it isn’t good. Then, the competition was between Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. Today, the contestants are Turkey, Iran, and a radical Egypt, with Iraq and Syria sidelined due to internal issues. Meanwhile, the Saudis have been forced to take over leadership of the remaining moderate Arab states (the Gulf sheikdoms, plus Morocco and Jordan) since they can no longer depend on America for protection.

Donations to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) no longer are tax deductible after the organization was among 275,000 tax-exempt organizations purged earlier this month by the Internal Revenue Service.

The introduction is an exploding Israeli tank. A row of burning Israeli flags marks time while the computer loads a ''training session'' in which shooting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's electronic forehead on a target is worth 10 points.

Turkey’s growing impatience toward next-door neighbor Syria over Damascus’ failure to implement reforms has not only shaken the country’s reputation as a mediator in the Middle East, but also recalls an event 13 years ago that brought both states to the brink of war.

...The U.S. has launched an FBI-led investigation into the shooting and officials told ABC News it is too soon to determine whether the attack was an act of terror and if the suspect acted alone. However, a senior U.S. intelligence official told ABC News the attack was likely terror-related.ABC News, March 3,2011

Considering the fact that from the beginning it was being reported that Arid Uka, it's not clear what else the US investigators thought the attack could have been.

David Freddoso of the Washington Examiner note what is lacking in Obama's war in Libya: Obama has avoided going to Congress for approval, he refuses to admit this is a war--and Senator John McCain is saying this war is being successful at a time that is looks like anything but.

Now it looks like there may be something else missing from this war: Arab approval.

1) Spontaneous?The headline of this New York Times news story from Syria is curious,Thousand turn out for Assad.The second paragraph reads:

The scenes across the country illustrated the complexity of the three-month crisis in Syria, which has deeply isolated Mr. Assad’s leadership. Though orchestrated, the rallies underlined the reservoirs of support Mr. Assad himself still draws on. But even as his government sought to suggest at least the intention of reform, violence erupted again as security forces fired on counterprotests, killing nine people, activists said.

Chief Rabbi Metzger says kaddish for Pollard since agent has no minyan

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger will be saying kaddish for Jonathan Pollard's father, a religious duty the imprisoned agent cannot fulfill since that prayer needs a quorum of Jewish men, the rabbi announced on Tuesday.

The Library of Congress has digitalized thousands of photographs in its collection and made them available online. Many of them are over 100 years old. We bring you a picture a day from this amazing collection, pictures that show the history of the Land of Israel in the last century, putting them into historical, Biblical and contemporary context.

By the way, the posts each have more than one picture.

Illustrating a history of the Jews in Palestine that the Arabs often deny ever existed, the blog has photos such as the Jewish evacuation from Jerusalem's Old City after 1929 pogroms, Jews evacuating the Old City during the 1936 Arab revolt against Britain and The expulsion of Jews from the Old City under the guns of Jordanian soldiers--with background information.

Speaking to Jewish donors (or should we say possible Jewish donors?) to his presidential campaign, President Barack Obama pledged that his administration would “devote all of its creative powers” to trying to bring about Mideast peace.

This is not an art project. What is needed is not “creative powers” but to deal with the actual, real situation. To me, “creative powers” (Samantha creative Powers?) means to come up with gimmicks, to do anything possible to bring about the supposed signing of a peace of paper [pun] as fast as possible. If they know the Palestinian Authority is inflexible, then they will just demand more concessions from Israel. And they won’t bother to ask whether the “peace agreement” they are pushing would last a month or produce a more stable region and a more secure Israel.

Every time Obama says that the “status quo is unsustainable,” he’s suggesting that anything would be better than the status quo. What he would produce, then, is a worse status quo.

Meanwhile, as if to prove the point, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said he would drop seeking UN approval of unilateral Palestinian independence if the United States offers something better: “I don’t know if the U.S. has another option, but if it does, we will not go to the U.N..”

This is a beautiful example of Palestinian leaders’ chutzpah disguised as victimhood. Let’s consider the following points:

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Last night I attended a mini-conference at the Israel Center in Jerusalem on the topic of "The Preferred Option: Israeli Sovereignty Over Judea & Samaria."

Organized privately by Yoel Meltzer, it was intended to be a kick-off for a process that, it is hoped, in time will significantly change perceptions regarding our situation here in Israel. It was not intended to be a definitive statement on that process, but a beginning.

Some 250 people attended the event. In the course of a few days, a video will be up on the Internet and I will share the URL. Here I provide a summary of what was said by four speakers.

A former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst convicted of spying for Israel was not permitted to attend his father's funeral in Indiana on Monday, despite requests from Israeli officials that he be allowed out of prison to pay his respects.

Two new twists emerged in the West Coast wars against bris milah, or circumcision, recently. The bid to outlaw the practice in the seaside city of Santa Monica, just north of Los Angeles, was dropped by its promoter, Jena Troutman. And the measure that would outlaw circumcision in San Francisco and fine violators up to $1000 was placed in a new and harsh light as the result of two deeply offensive comic books promoted by one of the proposal’s main supporters.

About Me

When I am not blogging at Daled Amos, I am sharing articles and the great posts of others on my account on Google Plus.

I write about the Middle East in general and about Israel in particular -- especially about issues affecting Israel in the Middle East and how Israel is impacted by policy in the current Obama administration.